Patients are walking out of pharmacies without their prescription medicines because they cannot afford them, health experts have said.
The Government is under renewed pressure to completely scrap prescription charges over concerns patients are at risk of poor health – and even death – because they are forced to choose between paying for heating, eating or medication.
Labour announced last week that it would freeze prescription charges at £9.90 per item for 2025, which the Department of Health and Social Care said will “help millions of patients get the medicines they need” and put “£18m back in people’s pockets”.
Three-month prescription charges have been frozen at £32.05 and £114.50 for 12 months.
However, pharmacists and campaigners said the move does not go far enough and is causing many, including asthma patients, to reduce their medication amid the cost of living crisis.
Pharmacist and chair of the National Pharmacy Association, Olivier Picard, told
The i Paper
asthma patients are among those who often pay and collect only part of their prescription due to the cost, with patients only paying for a reliever inhaler and going without a preventer, a habit that can exacerbate symptoms.
“They don’t use the preventer because they’re trying to save money by not cashing that particular prescription – but actually, they’re making themselves more unhealthy,” he said.
Can’t access inhalers
Emily Cook, public affairs manager at Asthma + Lung UK has had hundreds of calls to its helpline from people who are struggling with medication costs.
Ms Cook said patients are reporting they “can’t access the inhalers that they need, that they’re having to choose between sometimes heating, food and medication”.
For patients with asthma, going without even one of their inhalers can be deadly.
“They can get really seriously ill, so they can really struggle to breathe. And in the worst case, they can end up in hospital. It could even be fatal if people aren’t able to manage their condition,” Ms Cook said.
A ‘silent killer’
Across the board, however, Mr Picard said patients are often going without their full prescription due to costs.
Mr Picard said: “I had a patient the other day who was given two medications, she went to the doctor to get some painkillers and the doctor gave her a prescription for blood pressure medication.
“She took the painkillers and said she would come back for the blood pressure medication when she was able to afford it, and that is clearly not the right way of accessing medicine.”
He added that while high blood pressure might not be affecting the patient’s daily life, it is a “silent killer” and the blood pressure medication is “probably the one that’s keeping her alive.”
Mr Picard said the Government’s decision to continue to charge patients for prescriptions was “short-sighted”.
“The cost of someone going to hospital because they haven’t accessed their medication is potentially a lot higher than the government is getting the revenue that is generated by charging for this prescription,” he said.
For an individual at a major A&E department who receives complex investigation and treatment, the average costs range from £137 to £445, according to analysis by The King’s Fund.
‘No one should go without prescriptions due to cost’
Leyla Hannbeck, chief executive of the Independent Pharmacies Association, said patients ask pharmacists if they can “go without” certain prescription medications.
“No one should be going without their medication because they can’t afford [it],” she said. “In my view, medicine is like food and water. It’s a necessity,” she said.
Prescriptions are universally free in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, while only some patients qualify for free prescription medication in England, including children under 16 (up to 18 if in full-time education), pregnant women, those over 60 and some benefit recipients.
Ms Hannbeck said it is not fair that patients in England have to pay for prescriptions when other UK nations do not, adding that the money does not go into the
pockets of pharmacists
.
Laura Cockram, head of campaigns at Parkinson’s UK, said there are potentially around 2.8 million people with long-term conditions in England who are really struggling to afford their medication.
Parkinson’s medication, such as levodopa-based drugs, one of the main treatments for the condition, is time-critical. Delaying its consumption can have significant impacts on patient health.
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“[Levodopa-based medication] needs to be given, when it’s prescribed, within a 30-minute window because if not, then people can have a real impact in terms of their movement or their swallowing or their ability to walk and talk,” Ms Cockram, who is also chair of the Prescription Charges Coalition, a group more than 50 alliances calling for the Government to scrap the charges for patients with chronic conditions, said.
Patients with other chronic conditions are also at risk of hospitalisation and worse.
Ms Cockram said a patient with kidney disease was hospitalised twice because she “had to wait until payday to collect her prescription”.
“When she was in hospital, she had to have a lumbar puncture and an MRI scan on those two different occasions when she went in, which obviously cost the NHS thousands of pounds.
“It does have an impact on the NHS, as well as on the individual,” Mr Cockram said.
The coalition argues that there would not just be “massive benefits” to people with long-term conditions, but potentially to local health systems and reductions in waiting times for GP appointments and hospital treatment if prescription charges were abolished.
A DHSC spokesperson said: “Almost nine in 10 prescription items are available for free on the NHS in England.”
They added that there is a “wide range of additional support” to ensure that everyone who needs a prescription gets it.